Sick as a dog, what’s your story?
That old Aerosmith lyric has nothing to do with hockey but kind of explains what’s been happening to the Prince George Spruce Kings lately.
A flu bug that’s kept no fewer than nine players close to their barf buckets this week and cancelled practice the day before was no doubt a factor in what the Spruce Kings brought to the ice at Kopar Memorial Arena Wednesday, Jan. 22 when they resumed their BC Hockey League schedule against the Surrey Eagles.
The Spruce Kings fought back from a 3-0 deficit to tie it in the second period but eventually lost to the Eagles 7-5.
Ryan Evenhuis had a four-point night with two goals and two assists and Surrey got scoring for all four lines to make their one-and-done road trip a success.
Aidan Fischer made 31 saves to bump his record 9-3. That allowed the Eagles (20-12-3-0) to leapfrog Fischer’s former team, the Cowichan Valley Capitals, into third place in the Coastal Conference.
Eagles head coach and general manager Scott Gomez was at the league meetings in Salmon Arm last weekend for the BCHL all-star festivities and knows how tough it’s been for the Spruce Kings, not only with illnesses but also losing five of their top players in less than two months to teams in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.
“We’ve kind of all been through it, we haven’t had a full lineup since Day 1, but that was impressive by PG, to miss that many guys and have those kids step up, we’ll take it but we’re definitely lucky to get two points,” said Gomez.
“That team was ready, they’re well-coached. Give them a lot of credit for the way they came out.”
Needless to say, it was a blown opportunity for the Spruce Kings (12-18-3-1), who had a chance to pull even with the eighth-place Nanaimo Clippers into a playoff position.
“We’ve been battling something over the last couple weeks and it caught up with us the last few days here and we had lots of guys that gave everything they had,” said Spruce Kings head coach Brad Tesink.
“It happens. There were times when we looked like a connected group and times when we struggled to make a 10-foot pass. It was an inconsistent effort at home and we won’t use the sickness as an excuse, I think we’re a better hockey team than that. (The Eagles are) a team that capitalizes on mistakes and I think we saw that tonight.”
The Eagles grabbed a 2-0 lead before the six-minute mark, both goals the result of defensive turnovers that led to 2-on-1 opportunities Surrey cashed in with one-timers, first from Evenhuis and 45 seconds later it was Cameron Caron’s turn.
Evenhuis collected his second of the game while shorthanded after a defensive cough-up in the Spruce Kings’ end with 12:08 gone in the first to increase the gap to 3-0.
The Kings got the break they were looking for when they stole the puck and got set up in the Surrey zone long enough for Brock Cummings to send a pinpoint feed to linemate Nick Metelkin and he snapped it in past Aidan Fischer for his first goal and fourth point in three games since joining the Kings from the NAHL Odessa Jackalopes.
“There was a lot going on and Brock tried to shoot one and it got blocked but I saw him get it and I got into some open space and called for it,” said Metelkin, who played the left side on a line with Cummings and Kazumo Sasaki, back from helping for Japan win silver at the World Junior Division 1 Group B championship in Estonia.
“We’re quick and I think we work well together. It was only our first game and I think we have a lot ahead of us.”
Metelkin knows his team wasn’t at its best playing in front of Kopar crowd of 774.
“I think we had more than half our guys sick, I don’t know if it was a stomach bug or the flu and all things considered we had a really rough start in the first and then in the third and they capitalized on that. Other than that, if we came out better it would have been a different result.”
Metelkin’s snipe was the jolt of inspiration the Spruce Kings needed to kick-start the offence and they dictated the play for the rest of the period, keeping their feet moving and were rewarded three minutes before the break.
Carter Hesselgrave carried the puck in deep and as he was skating behind the net he spotted the newest Spruce King, centre Corson Maguire, all alone in front. Playing in his first BCHL game, the 19-year-old former Amarillo Wrangler (NAHL) buried the puck to make it a 3-2 count.
Miles Burgin restored the two-goal lead six minutes into the second period, set up in front by a perfect feed from Yuchan Kong. But the Spruce Kings, playing their first game in 11 days, had an answer for that.
Will Moore walked out of the corner with a power move and tucked the puck n low for his 11th of the season and just past the midway mark of the period Nicolas Papineau stole the puck on the right wing wall and served it up on a platter for Ryan Wachtel, his second of season.
A routine shot late in the period from Brandon Gill directed at Spruce Kings goalie Dylan Johnson from the top of the face-off circle deflected off the goalie’s trapper and fluttered into the net and the Eagles went into the second intermission ahead 5-4.
Sam Elliott provided the game winner, scoring his first of the season on a goalmouth puck-drag he tucked into the net underneath an outstretched Johnson just 43 seconds into the third period. It was Elliott’s first game of the season, coming back from a cut Achilles tendon.
The Spruce Kings had four power plays in the third period but had no luck getting goalie Fischer out of his comfort zone. The Eagles were well on their way to killing off the fourth penalty when Massimo Fazio skated the puck in and found the net off the shaft of Kings’ goalie Johnson.
Maks Percic finally got the PP to connect with a deflected shot pass while standing just off the post to cap the scoring.
LOOSE PUCKS: The one salvation for the Spruce Kings is they’ve got this weekend off, the only weekend other than the all-star break where there’s a lull in their season schedule … With only five defenceman available the Kings called up 18-year-old Nathan Hayes from the Port Alberni Bombers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League … The Spruce Kings’ next game is Wednesday, Jan. 29 in Nanaimo, the start of a three-game Vancouver Island tour with stops Jan 31 in Port Alberni and Feb. 1 in Victoria.
